Leprechaun Wresting
Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL
Visited July 9, 2010
Beer Selection: Good for a ballpark. The usual suspects plus Sam Adams and local microbrewery Bold City all for the same price ($6 for 24 oz).
Food: The foot-long bratwurst with peppers and onions is outstanding. Everything else is fairly ordinary, unimaginative ballpark fare.
First of all, let me start by telling you, no matter how many Guinness’ you’ve had, Leprechauns don’t really exist.
But midgets do.
And thank goodness for that.
Because when you take midgets, who happen to be internationally known professional wrestlers, and dress them in Leprechaun outfits and place them in a wresting ring for a “St. Patrick’s Day in July” Southern League Baseball promotion, you have the makings of the very stuff that makes this country great.
Now this is the type of place I want to be when I’m not flying all across America in a giant metal tube.
And so I found myself one Friday night at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville Florida, Section 103, with a green beer in hand, wearing my “Irish Drinking Team” baseball jersey, and “Irish Kevin’s Key West” (definitely a topic for another time) baseball hat.
I draw the line at wearing a suit to a minor league baseball game, making the Clark Kent clothes change in the rental car sometimes necessary.
Where else can you sit outside on a steamy southern night with a cold beer in hand and watch the likes of future Chicago Cubs star, Josh Vitters, belt a 400-foot homerun and make a spectacular diving catch between third and short, with the home team coming away with a dramatic one -run win – AND cap it all off with fireworks and Leprechaun wresting?
Southern League Baseball, exploding pyrotechnics, green beer, and Leprechauns.
It doesn’t get more American than that.